i will write something interesting here. someday. for now, this is all i got.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not in just some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Reader Comments (5)

I disagree with her assertion that our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. While some may suffer from hiding their realized brilliance, most of us, I believe, don't think of ourselves as "powerful beyond measure." The problem is that we think of ourselves as inadequate and powerless to change it. This takes many forms, like blaming others for our problems, or not trying new things, or not meeting new people as we complain of loneliness, but most of us do this to some extent. Many of us form our lives around this idea of fear and helplessness.

Once she gets to, "Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God," she's really hitting on something. We think of ourselves as the sinners we are instead of as the redeemed children of a living God. Not that we aren't still sinners, but we are now with the power to overcome and live to our full potential. Just read Romans 8 for a picture of this power living within us.

I think this is an awesome quote and right on. Each of us is capable of so much, and I think that each of us knows it, and it scares us. Because it leaves us with a decision: be bland, comfortable, and boring, shunning your potential and the abilities and skills that God has given you, or use it all, pushing yourself to your limits. The second option is risky, frightening, and right. You risk people asking, "who do you think you are?" You risk failure, embarrassment, money loss, whatever. But the other option is scarier: using your one life on the planet to stew in your own self-centered, so-called "inadequacies." This may seem on the surface to resemble humility or "living a quiet life" or introvertedness, but these are often excuses for not wanting to risk your life for the sake of losing comfort. I think about this sort of thing nearly everyday. It's way scary, but of utmost importance to our lives, I think. When I get to the end of my life, I want more than anything to believe that I did all I could with what I'd been given. This is challenging and difficult and wonderful stuff.